Forensic Analysis · Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals / Biotech · as of Aug 10, 2026

Hca Healthcare, Inc. (HCA)

A forensic read on Hca Healthcare, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable

Forensic grade

Grey Zone

Financial health

2.1

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

12.9

P / E (ttm)

$89.4B

Market cap

0.76%

Dividend yield

7.1%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Hca Healthcare, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.1, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.

What the filings flag

140% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $10.7B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 140% of free cash flow, but 85% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow, with the gap funded by debt or cash reserves rather than the cash the business itself throws off; the payout itself is still covered by operating cash. Counting the $401M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 145%.

-99%

FY2012→FY2013

Dividend — cut. The payout was CUT ~99% in FY2013 (from FY2012) and hasn't been restored since. It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$75.60B

Revenue Growth YoY+7.1%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)+7.9%

Net Margin9.0%

Free Cash Flow$7.69B

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 10, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.